Telling Catherine
by theshipperlogs
Summary: Grissom tells Catherine about his relationship with Sara.
1. Chapter 1

Telling Catherine

Disclaimer: Standard, don't even pretend to own them.

Note: This takes place right after "Way to Go". So there could be spoilers for that episode. Just have to say that I abhor the Grissom/Sara pairing. I have always that Grissom and Catherine complimented each other more so.

Gil Grissom swung his legs over the side of the bed and tried to adjust eyes to the sunlight peering through the curtains. He rubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. He had just gone to sleep three hours ago, but after a particularly vivid dream, sleep had eluded him and he had decided that it would just be better to get up than lie there and torture himself. He glanced over his shoulder to the woman lying curled up in a fetal position on her side of his bed. Her soft brown hair gently framed her face and she smiled in her sleep. She looked peaceful and content even though she had sorted through various body parts that had been put through a wood chipper the night before. He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead and pushed himself off the bed.

Walking to the kitchen, the dream still plagued his mind. Images of blond hair and angry, hurt eyes flashed before him as he opened the refrigerator and grabbed the half full carton of juice. He selected a glass from the cupboard and poured the juice. He glanced at the clock; it we just after one in the afternoon and decided that a splash of vodka wouldn't hurt. The drink went down in one swallow and he thought about another before remembering that he could be called at any moment into the field. He had been working a lot of doubles lately, hell even some triples, and he was always prepared, and in control so that he could.

Gil pulled a clean t-shirt from the laundry basket sitting on the table; Sara must have left it there when she came in. She was doing his laundry now. They had been together for five months and six days. She made sure that he ate right and even tried to talk him into coming home after he had been on his feet for sixteen hours straight. She was a good woman, and he loved her. They were more compatible than he ever thought that he could be with a woman. She was comfortable, and he was happy.

The confrontation in his dream had been anything but comfortable or happy. There had been yelling and crying, accusing and admonishing. And there had been passion. It was the first time that he had seen that kind of passion in Catherine Willow eyes in a long time. In a way, it had made him happy to see that fire in her that seemed to have died out when Eddie had died and Lindsay had grown up all too fast, but he was also sad that his best friend couldn't, no wouldn't, support his relationship with Sara. Then, Grissom remembered that it had all been a dream, and he felt relieved. He wasn't ready for anyone to find out about him and Sara, least of all Catherine.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I am also surprised that more people have not written about Catherine finding out about Gris and Sara. It took me a while to get over the denial that TPTB had actually gone there. Hope you like the next chapter.

Chapter 2

Catherine Willows approached the layout room. Sara was supposed to be in there laying all of the blood evidence out from the wood chipper murder. There wasn't much, but they had been able to gather a few pieces of the victim here and there. She just hoped there might be some trace evidence on him that she could use. As she neared the room, she could hear Sara's low voice talking, and since she only heard one voice she assumed that she was on the phone.

"Yeah, we got all the pieces that we could find. There are a few pieces of clothing, so maybe we can find some trace. Yeah, I've already sent samples to DNA. Will I see you after shift?... So you aren't working a double again? The world must be coming to an end… Yeah, I will. I have my key. See you soon," Sara said, oblivious that Catherine was standing behind her smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Who was that?" Catherine asked, as Sara practically jumped out of her skin.

Sara smiled and replied, "Nobody."

"Well, he must be somebody, if you have his key and if you are talking evidence with him, he must work at the lab," Catherine surmised, joining Sara at the table covered in tiny body parts.

"Uhm, we have twenty-two pieces and I have sent a sample to DNA already. I figured that we could take a sample from each piece to trace," Sara said, changing the subject.

Catherine looked at the evidence lying on the table. _Could it be Nick? _Not on the table, but on the phone?

"Have you already photographed the pieces?" Catherine asked, still smiling, her hands on her hips.

"Yes, I have, and I figured we could divide the samples up and have them to trace by the end of shift," Sara replied, making a point not to look at Catherine. She knew that if she did, Catherine would know who was on the phone and Grissom had made it perfectly clear that he was not ready for anyone at the lab to find out.

"If you have somewhere that you need to be, I can do this," Catherine offered. "Lindsey is staying at a friend's house, so I don't mind the overtime."

"You sure you don't mind? I _would_ like to go home and get cleaned up," Sara said, surprised by Catherine's offer.

"Yeah, go ahead. There's no reason that one of us shouldn't have a social life," Catherine said, pulling her long strawberry blonde hair out of the collar of her lab coat.

"Thanks, Cath," Sara said, slipping off her own lab coat. She was pleasantly surprised by Catherine's generosity. "Have a good night."

"I will. I love puzzles," Catherine said over her shoulder and just as Sara left the room she added, "Say hi to Nicky for me."

Catherine smiled and went back to the evidence making a mental not to herself to grill Nick the next time she saw him.

Five hours later, Catherine dropped the last of the wood chipper evidence off at trace and headed for the locker room. It had been a long shift and she was looking forward to a shower. Catherine walked into the room and saw Nick sitting on the bench tying his boots.

"Hey, Nicky. What are you doing here? I thought you had the next couple of days off," Catherine said, opening her locker and taking out her jean jacket.

"Got called in about 6am. First shift needed an extra hand on a multiple drive by," Nick said, unenthusiastically.

"Spoiled big plans?" Catherine asked, wearing the same Cheshire smile that she had had on her face earlier.

"Yeah, I was actually going to fly home for a couple of days. I was driving to the airport when I got the call," he answered. "I've got another flight this afternoon. Hopefully, I'll make this one."

Catherine was confused. If Nicky had been planning on going home, he couldn't have been the one that Sara had been talking to on the phone.

"See you later, Cath,' Nicky said, walking toward the door.

"Yeah," Catherine replied automatically.

Catherine just stared into her locker for a minute. Normally she wouldn't care who Sara was seeing, but the fact that it was someone from the lab had her intrigued. It couldn't be Hodges,that was just wrong…Greg? She thought about it. Greg and Sara were good friends and he had had a crush on her for years, but he really wasn't her type. Her type was….No…No…It couldn't be, she thought. He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't risk his career. Would he?

Sara rolled over in the bed and looked at the clock. It was 3 in the afternoon on a Saturday and she didn't have to be in for another few hours. Neither did the man lying beside her. She debated on whether to tell him about Catherine's suspicions. She didn't want him to start second guessing his decision to be with her, but she also didn't want Catherine blindsiding him with questions. But Catherine really didn't know who had been on the other end of that conversation? For all she knew it could have been anyone in the lab…Nick…Greg…Hodges…No, Sara thought…not Hodges, even Catherine knew her better than that. She let out a chuckle and lay on her back.

"What was that for?" Gil said, propping one eye open to look at her.

"Nothing," Sara said, rolling toward him and caressing his arm with her fingers.

"You laughed," he stated, gradually opening the other eye.

"You remember when you called me last night?" she asked and he shook his head. "Well, Catherine overheard me talking..."

Grissom didn't even let her finish. He said up in the bed and looked at her in horror.

"Don't tell me, you told her," he said accusatorially.

"I didn't tell her anything. I changed the subject," Sara defended.

A relieved look came over his face and Grissom laid back down in the bed.

"Someone is going to find out eventually," Sara said, laying her head on his bare chest. "Don't you think we should tell them before they find out?"

"You won't be able to work with me anymore," he reasoned.

"I could move to day shift," she replied. "I think Mara wants to move to graveyard anyway."

"I just need some time, Sara," he said, moving his arm so that she would lift her head off him, he got out of the bed and for the first time since they had started sleeping together he felt self-conscious about being naked as he walked to the bathroom.

Sara laid there and looked at the ceiling. Was he ashamed of her? Or was he just protecting their careers? She had a feeling that she was about to find out as she stared at the bathroom door and heard the shower start.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: thanks again for all the reviews. This story is G/S and G/C. While I think that Grissom and Sara are ultimately a mistake, I felt the need to write this as true to character as possible. I also like to think that when Catherine said that Grissom had been burned bad in "Burden of Proof" that it was by her.

Chapter 3

Grissom stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the bathroom door. He wanted to wrap his arms around Sara and tell her that everything would be ok, but Sara was not in the bedroom, only a note on his pillow.

Gris-

Went home to change. I'll do whatever you think is best. See you later.

I love you.

Sara

He smiled and walked into the kitchen, dropped the note on the counter, and grabbed a beer from the fridge. He felt bad about the way that she had left. He was about to grab some clothes when the doorbell rang. He wasn't expecting anyone. It was probably Sara. She always rang the bell when she knew that he was home, as a courtesy.

He opened the door not to find a tall brunette there, but someone quite the opposite.

"Catherine, is something wrong," he asked, alarmed. She rarely showed up unannounced. "Did something happen at the lab…something happen to Lindsay?"

She smiled, "Everything is fine. Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," he answered, tightening the towel around his waist. "Just let me go get some clothes on."

"It's ok," she said, holding up her hand. "I'll only be here a minute and it's not like I haven't seen you in a towel before."

Catherine walked in, playing with the keys in her hands.

"Can I get you anything?" Grissom asked nervously.

"Are you sleeping with Sara?" Catherine blurted out.

He just looked at her, guilty clouds in his eyes telling her more than his words ever would.

"That's all the answer that I need," she said, pacing a small space around the living room. "I'm not going to give you the integrity of the lab speech or the coworkers dating is impossible speech. I know that you've heard them both. You said them to me. I just wanted to say that, as your friend, I wish that you had told me. We've been friends for more than twenty years and for me to find out that you're seeing Sara from a phone call that I accidentally overheard, shows me just what you think of me."

She stopped, tears in her eyes. He couldn't deal with a crying Catherine, he never could. She wasn't the angry, condemning, jealous Catherine that he had seen in his dreams. She was tearful and sad and it made his heart break in more ways than he thought possible to see her like this.

"Catherine, I…We didn't want anyone at the lab to know. I didn't want to put you in that position," he said, not knowing what to do. He felt more naked standing there in front of her now than he had this afternoon with Sara.

"I don't care about what position you put me in," she said, looking at him in the eye. "I hope you know that I want you to be happy. I want you to have someone in your life. Even if that person is Sara, and not me."

He seemed surprised by her sincerity.

"I just thought that it would be better for everyone involved, if we kept it quiet," he said, relaxing a little.

Catherine sank down in one of the leather chairs in his living room and looked out the window.

"I guess I can understand that. God knows that's one of the reasons that it didn't work out for us," she said, looking over at him.

He returned her stare, remembering the day that they had both sat in the director's office and were told that they couldn't work together and be in a relationship. It had been relatively new to them and neither of them had wanted to sacrifice their careers. Catherine had just broken up with Eddie and she had to provide for Lindsay and he had never known anything else. It was a risk that neither one of them had been willing to take. And even though that moment in time had passed, both of them had regretted not trying harder to make it work at times.

"Once Ecklie found out...the director knew by that afternoon…then we spent the whole night saying goodbye…All I've ever wanted is for you to be happy," Catherine said, tears in her eyes. "And if Sara is the one that does that for you…."

"She does," he confessed, sitting on the arm of the chair and looking down at her. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you."

"You know that I wouldn't have said anything. I wouldn't hurt you or the lab," she replied.

"I know that, Catherine. I just needed some time," he said, taking her hand. "I fell in love with someone I worked with before and it didn't work out. I wanted to be sure."

"Are you sure?" she whispered.

"I don't know. I know that I love her and right now that's enough," he said honestly.

"Well, then that's good enough for me," she answered, getting up out of the chair. She kissed him on one cheek and pressed her hand to the other one.

He felt closer to her than he had in years. Each of them having allowed time to make them grow further and further apart. He watched her as she walked to the door and admired the amazing dancer's body that she still had after all these years.

"I know you're watching me," she yelled across the room.

"I'm not dead," he said with a laugh. "You wanna catch a bite to eat tonight?"

"Don't you have plans with the missus?" she teased, turning to face him as he approached her.

"I do, but I thought that you could join us," he offered, wanting two of the most important women in his life to be friends.

A huge smile crossed her face, "I'd love to."

"See you at Tony's at 8?" he asked, laying a hand on the doorknob.

"I'll be there, but if you two start making out at the table, I'm outta there," she teased as he opened the door and leaned in to gently kiss her forehead.

"Thank you, Catherine," he whispered as she turned and walked out the door, just as Sara was coming up the sidewalk with a confused look on her face.

"What was that all about?" she asked, eyeing the towel around his waist.

Grissom just smiled and held the door open for her. He kissed her on the lips and laughed.

"It was about telling Catherine," he answered, closing the door.


End file.
